Indonesia to expand rail transport services nationwide: official

Indonesia has drafted plans to expand rail transport services across the country, a senior official said here on Monday.

"We have conducted studies and evaluation regarding those projects. Most of them will be carried out outside Java," Hermanto Dwiatmoko, the Transportation Ministry's director general for railways, told a press conference in the ministry's premise here.

New railway tracks have been designed and would be built in Sumatra, Kalimantan, Sulawesi, and Papua, said Hermanto, adding the funds would be jointly contributed by the government and private investors.

Some 234 trillion rupiah (about 17.9 billion U.S. dollars) has been allocated for the next five years to finance rail projects and development of necessities to support the operation of rail transport, the official said.

"The new railway tracks will connect cities in Aceh to North Sumatra down to Kertapati in South Sumatra. In Kalimantan, the new railway tracks will serve transportation from West to East Kalimantan provinces. In Sulawesi, the new railway tracks will link South to North Sulawesi provinces. Meanwhile in Papua, the new railway tracks would be built in West Papua province," Hermanto said.

Expanding train transport outside the island of Java has been one of President Joko Widodo's promises during the presidential campaign last year.